The Symbolism of King Mark in Wagner's Tristan und Isolde by Julie Anne Heikel Bachelor of ...

166 Pages·2010·5.49 MB·English

by  Julie Heikel

Constructing Chivalry:
The Symbolism of King Mark in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

by

Julie Anne Heikel
Bachelor of Music, McGill University, 2007

A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfillment
of the Requirements for the Degree of

MASTERS OF ARTS

in the School of Music

 Julie Anne Heikel, 2010
University of Victoria

All rights reserved. This thesis may not be reproduced in whole or in part, by photocopy
or other means, without the permission of the author.
ii
Supervisory Committee

Constructing Chivalry:
The Symbolism of King Mark in Wagner’s Tristan und Isolde

by

Julie Anne Heikel
Bachelor of Music, McGill University, 2007

Supervisory Committee

Dr. Susan Lewis Hammond, School of Music
Supervisor

Kurt Kellan, School of Music
Co-Supervisor

Dr. Michelle Fillion, School of Music
Departmental Member
iii
Abstract

Supervisory Committee
Dr. Susan Lewis Hammond
Supervisor
Kurt Kellan
Co-Supervisor
Dr. Michelle Fillion
Departmental Member

Despite Tristan’s place as a cornerstone of the operatic repertory, there has been
surprisingly little scholarship on King Mark, whom scholars often overlook in favour of
the title characters. This study examines Wagner’s adaptation of his source, the Tristan of
Gottfried von Strassburg, to construct a character that represents the courtly chivalric
society of the opera in opposition to the new order represented in Tristan’s passionate
pursuit of love and, ultimately, of death. Building on literary scholarship of the Tristan
tradition, this study explores issues of duality and decline in Mark’s character and the
elements of his chivalric friendship with Tristan within the homosocial constructs of the
courts. Through his use of traditional operatic lament form, associative orchestration, and
text expression, Wagner constructs a king who is more nuanced that any of his
predecessors: one cleansed by tragedy and capable of forgiveness.
iv
Table of Contents

Supervisory Committee......................................................................................................ii

Abstract..............................................................................................................................iii

Table of Contents...............................................................................................................iv

List of Tables......................................................................................................................v

List of Figures....................................................................................................................vi

List of Musical Examples.................................................................................................vii

Acknowledgments............................................................................................................viii

Dedication..........................................................................................................................ix

Preface.................................................................................................................................1

Chapter One: Gottfried’s Tristan........................................................................................8

History of the Tristan Legend.........................................................................................8

The Eternal Triangle: The Characters and the Relationships Within...........................14

Issue of the Potion and the Dual Nature of King Mark................................................22

Duality of Mark’s Character.........................................................................................24

Chapter Two: Wagner’s Literary Tristan.........................................................................31

Genesis of Wagner’s Libretto.......................................................................................31

Comparison of Wagner’s Narrative to Gottfried’s.......................................................33

Wagner’s Eternal Triangle: The Characters and the Relationships Within..................40

Wagner’s Treatment of the Potion and King Mark’s Character...................................42

Chapter Three: Il Lamento: the Lament Tradition in Greek Tragedy and Early Opera..46

Wagner’s Theories: Society & the Volk, Greek Drama, & Gesamtkunstwerk.............48

Mark’s Lament as the Literary Lament in Greek Tragedy...........................................52

Mark’s Lament as a Wagnerian Narrative....................................................................57

Mark’s Lament as an Early Operatic Lament...............................................................60

Tonality.....................................................................................................................62

Texture......................................................................................................................64

Motives.....................................................................................................................67

Chapter Four: The Bass Clarinet as a Unifying Symbol of Honour and Betrayal............73

Chapter Five: Text Expression and Melodic Analysis of Mark’s Music........................114

Melodic Analysis of Act Two, Scene Three: Lamenting the treulos treuster Freund118

Analysis of Act Three, Scene Three: Forgiving the treulos treuster Freund.............125

Conclusion......................................................................................................................135

Bibliography...................................................................................................................138

Primary Sources..........................................................................................................138

Scores......................................................................................................................139

Audio/Video Recordings........................................................................................139

Additional Libretto Source to musical scores.........................................................139

Secondary Sources......................................................................................................140

Appendix One: Summary of the Tristan Prototype........................................................144

Appendix Two: Summary of Wagner’s Tristan Drama.................................................147
v
List of Tables

Table 1: Formal Analysis of Mark’s Act Two, Scene Three Lament...............................61

Table 2: Ascending Leaps ≥ P5......................................................................................119

Table 3: Descending Perfect Intervals (P5, P8)..............................................................120

Table 4: Descending Minor 6th.......................................................................................121

Table 5: Descending Minor 7th.......................................................................................122

Table 6: Descending Diminished 7th...............................................................................123

Table 7: Mark’s Act Two utterances “Tristan”.............................................................124

Table 8: Consecutive, opposite leaps (ascending then descending as in Theme #2)......124

Table 9: Mark: Ascending Diminished 5ths.....................................................................127

Table 10: Supporting Characters: Descending Perfect Intervals (P4, P5, P8)................128

Table 11: Mark’s Descending Perfect Intervals (P5, P8)...............................................129

Table 12: Supporting Characters: Descending Major and Minor 6ths.............................129

Table 13: Mark’s Descending Major 6ths........................................................................129

Table 14: Supporting Characters: Descending Minor 7ths..............................................130

Table 15: Supporting Characters: Descending Diminished 5ths......................................131

Table 16: Supporting Characters: Descending Diminished 7ths......................................131

Table 17: Mark’s Descending Diminished 5ths and 7ths...................................................132

Table 18: Mark’s Descending Minor 7ths........................................................................132

Table 19: Mark: Reoccurrence of Theme Three (from Act Two, Scene Three)............133

Table 20: Mark: Ascending/Descending Cell (related to Theme #2 from Act Two, Scene
Three)..............................................................................................................................133
vi
List of Figures

Figure 1: Sources of the Tristan legend............................................................................10

Figure 2: Epic Love Triangle Prototype...........................................................................15

Figure 3: The 'Tristan' Eternal Triangle...........................................................................17

Figure 4: Plot Summary Comparison: Gottfried vs. Wagner...........................................36
vii
List of Musical Examples
Example 1: Descending Tetrachord skeleton based on mm. 59-62 of Tristan 2:III.........64

Example 2: Bass Clarinet Head Motive mm. 201-207 of 2:III.........................................66

Example 3: The Matrix.....................................................................................................67

Example 4: Theme #1: mm. 59-67...................................................................................68

Example 5: Theme #2: mm. 84-85 and 86-87..................................................................68

Example 6: Theme #3: mm. 120-125...............................................................................68

Example 7: Chromatic extension of Theme #3 mm. 124-126.........................................68

Example 8: Tristan 2:III mm. 59-62.................................................................................70

Example 9: Tristan 2:III mm. 63-65a...............................................................................71

Example 10: Tristan 2:III mm. 69-71...............................................................................71

Example 11: Tristan 2:III mm. 201-207...........................................................................72

Example 12: Tristan 1:III mm. 194-200...........................................................................77

Example 13: Tristan 1:III mm. 394-406...........................................................................79

Example 14: Tristan 1:III mm. 455-467...........................................................................82

Example 15: Tristan 1:V mm. 62-70................................................................................86

Example 16: Tristan 1:V mm. 232-244............................................................................89

Example 17: Tristan 1:V mm. 312-317............................................................................93

Example 18: Tristan 1:V mm. 451-463............................................................................95

Example 19: Tristan 3: I mm. 223-230.............................................................................97

Example 20: Tristan 3:I mm. 107-116............................................................................101

Example 21: Tristan 3:I mm.612-616.............................................................................104

Example 22: Tristan 3:I mm.621-625.............................................................................106

Example 23: Tristan 3:I mm. 676-682............................................................................108

Example 24: Tristan 3:I mm.915-920.............................................................................110

Example 25: Tristan 3:III mm. 194-197.........................................................................112

Example 26: Tristan 3:III mm. 194-197.........................................................................117
viii
Acknowledgments

Two are better than one, because they have a good reward
for their toil. For if they fall, one will lift up his fellow.
Ecclesiastes 4:9-10 (ESV)

The journey to this point in my studies, though deliberate, has not been a direct one. I
am indebted to many people for their support in this journey and for my arrival thus far.

To Dr. Steven Huebner and Dr. Julie E. Cumming: My
time with you at McGill inspired my love of and initial
move to musicology.
To Dr. Susan Lewis Hammond for her astute comment that
led me back to my pursuit of musicology and to Dr.
Michelle Fillion whose seminar showed me the Wagner
beyond the tricky horn excerpts. Your patience and wisdom
as my committee have been invaluable.
To the colleagues-become-friends and friends-become
colleagues whose careful eyes and generous spirit have
typed, edited, and translated when I simply could no
longer: Aaron, Hilary, Iain, Libby, Linnea, Nick, Rachel,
Tegan, and Twila.
To all those who kept my research sharp and honest: my
sounding board, Annalise Smith for arguing opera
aesthetics; my brother, John RE Heikel for arguing politics,
and Alisabeth (Libby) Concord for our Wagner pub chats.
To all those who kept me grounded, centred, and fed: the
270 students at UVic; the piano students at Con Brio
Music; the Body of Christ at Faith Lutheran, Impact, and
Hope Lutheran churches; and innumerable other friends
and family who toiled, laughed, and cried with me. You lift
me up.
To my daddy, Melvin J. Heikel, who assured me that “more
school is never bad” and my mom, Sherri Heikel, who
somehow always understands. Everywhere I am, there
you'll be. I love you.
Thank you.
ix
Dedication

For Johann and for Holberg.
You were my summer.
Preface

Richard Wagner was the first composer to successfully set the Tristan legend to
opera in his famous Tristan und Isolde. Despite Tristan’s place as a cornerstone of the
operatic repertory since its premiere in Munich in June of 1865, there has been
surprisingly little scholarship on King Mark, whom scholars often overlook in favour of
the title characters. The pervading view among scholars is that Mark is a minor figure in
the drama: he is merely the unwanted husband in the eternal triangle and unworthy of
Isolde’s love. However, the significance of the king in Wagner’s construction of the
Tristan drama is far greater than such a meagre role: Mark represents both the courtly
society of the opera and of the class-based Germany of Wagner’s time. On one level
Wagner not only challenges his audience to choose which man is Isolde’s worthy lover,
but also compels them to make a similar decision between the chivalric code represented
by the king and the personal liberation pursued by the title characters. When considered
in conjunction with Wagner’s political views, an even deeper narrative emerges: Mark
encompasses the aspects of hierarchical society that Wagner held in such disdain. This
study examines Wagner’s adaptation of his source, the Tristan of Gottfried von
Strassburg, to construct a character that represents the courtly chivalric society of the
opera in opposition to the new order represented in Tristan’s passionate pursuit of love
and, ultimately, of death. Building on literary scholarship of the Tristan tradition, this
study explores issues of duality and decline in Mark’s character and the elements of his
chivalric friendship with Tristan within the homosocial constructs of the courts. Through
his use of traditional operatic lament form, associative orchestration, and text expression,